Improvement in safety-brakes for horse-powers



UNITED STATES PAT-ENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH O. BIRD, OF RISING SUN, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN SAFETY-BRAKES FOR HORSE-POWERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 45,958, dated January17, 1865.

T0 all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOSEPH C. BIRD, of Rising Sun, in the county ofCecil and State of Marylan i, have invented certain new and usefulimprovements in safety-brakes, to be applied to horse-powers,threshing-machines, and the like, and to be used in connection with adrawing-belt or its equivalent, and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact pescription of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l represents a side view of a horsepoweror threshing-machine, with the brake in question applied thereto. Fig. 2represents a vertical transvelse section through the same, and showing aside view and elevation ofthe device for holding and tripping orapplying the brake when the driving-belt breaks or flies oft, which is acommon occurrence.

Similar letters ot reference where they occur denote like parts in boththe iigures.

A lever or trigger held up by the belt, and which trips and appliesabrake when the belt givesway or iiies oft from its pulleys, hasheretofore been used, but, from a defect in the arrangement, was liableto tly up by the jar or motion ot the machine, and thus apply the brakewhile the belt was in placev and working, and thus do great damage.

rIhe object and purpose of my invention is to counteract this liabilityoi' the lever to apply the brake while the belt is in place and working,and thus avoid the liability of injury to the machine or its operations,while at the same time I maintain a. positive trip and application ofthe brake, when the belt parts or flies oit', and my invention consistsin applying a stop or catch, above which the lever or trigger cannot orwill not go, and thus the brake cannot be applied in any other way thanby the parting or flying oft' of the belt, entirely obviating theliability of the jarring of the machine, throwing out or upward thelever or trigger, and thus letting the brake fall upon the pulley ordrive-wheel.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A represents a horsepower or threshingmachine frame, on which is thecustomary pulley or drive-wheel B, from whence the power is taken ortransmitted to the part or thing to be driven by an endless belt, c, orits equivalent.

At any point or part of the machine within or approximate to the path ofthe belt, I arrange a lever or trigger, D, which is pivoted to anysuitable support, E, as at a, and on this support, or elsewhere withinthe vibration or path ofthe lever D, I arrange a stop or catch, c, thatprevents .the lever from rising beyond it.

The belt o I have represented as resting upon the trigger at the pointe, it being for the purpose of preventing the end d ofthe lever fromfalling or the end f from rising, so long as the beltbears or reststhereon or runs near enough thereto to accomplish this end 5 but thebelt may be applied elsewhere to the trigger and accomplish the samepurpose. The point f of the lever or trigger holds up the end of a brakebeam or lever, F, which may be pivoted by its opposite end, g, to theframe A, and upon this brake beam or lever there may be a shoulder, It,or a brake-block, which, when, the lever is allowed to fall, is appliedto the perimeter ot' the wheel B, and

thus stops or impedes its motion. So long as the lever D remains in theposition shown in Fig. 2, and it will remain there so long as the belt Ois in action or place, as it prevents it from swinging in one direction,while the stop c prevents it from swinging in the opposite direction, solong will the trigger or lever hold up the brake-beam F, however muchthe machine may shake or jar by the high speed of its gearings, butshould the belt part or iiy oft' from either or both of its pulleys,then the end d of the lever D will drop, and its opposite end, f, willswing away from the brakebeam F, and allow it to drop and apply theshoulder or block at h to the wheel B and stop its motion. l

Having thus fully described the nature, object, and purpose of myinvention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

In combination with the trigger or lever D,

the stop or catch which prevents it from rising beyond a given point,which would otherwise apply the brake without the parting or flying oft'of the belt, substantially as herein described.

JOSEPH G. BIRD. W'itnesses:

B. F. THOMAS, S. I. KRAUss.

